So, after a very succesful Tri-nations campaign, what are the Boks future prospects looking like? Will PDV’s kick-and-chase game plan work next year or the year after or will teams have cottoned onto this idea and find a defensive pattern to counter act the effective kicking game recently employed. A fair number of the current Bok squad are RWC 07 winnners and look likely to be there or there abouts in 2011, but who will be the new comers challenging for places and if PDV continues with generally good selection policies, will this Bok squad become the stuff of legends during the next 2 seasons? there is definitely no lack of depth in South Africa, and should be strong contenders to defend their title come 2011.

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Everyone in the rugby world says that the All Blacks are the biggest chokers in the game when it comes to World Cup Rugby time. It is a fact that the All Blacks have failed to win the World Cup every since they won the first one. They somehow always seem to disappoint when it comes to the World Cup. They play so well in non World Cup years and they are usually always the favourites going into a Wolrd Cup to win it.

I believe that if the All Blacks can not win the World Cup in 2011 on the own home patch, they may not win it again in a very long time.

Now let us look at the other great chokers in sport today: The South Africa cricket team otherwise known as The Proteas. Now just like the All Blacks, the Proteas can not seem to win these major cricket tournaments be it the recent ICC Champions Trophy that they got dumped out from, or a T20 World Cup or the main Cricket World Cup. What is it about the Proteas and these tournaments. Right now the Proteas are ranked Number 1 in both forms of the game thus many expected them to win the ICC Champions Trophy and even more so that it was being played on their own home turf.

What is it about the All Blacks and the Proteas when it comes to the big stage?

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Two years ago, the All Blacks were a dominant force, once again the smart money was on them to take the RWC until France, once again, trounced their hopes in the quarters, leaving the Boks the last team standing with the golden cup. 2 years down the line, the tide has changed. After a rocky 2008 for the Boks in general, wooden spoon for the Bulls in the S14 and for the Boks in the Trinations, they’ve followed that up with a commanding performance in 2009, taking every piece of silverware available to them, bar possibley the ‘home nations’ title, which surely they’d have taken had it been for the offering on the end of year tour.

Looking ahead to 2011 after the current Trinations tournament where the currently ranked top 3 teams do battle, it seems more than likely that the Boks are in the driving seat and, on current form, look like the All Blacks during non-RWC years. The Boks will be hoping that they can continue to improve and this form doesnt dip. PDV will be the architect of their own demise as i feel they have the players to take the golden cup once again, even in the All Blacks back garden.

While reading a New Zealand website i came across some analysis of the All Blacks and their current choices for players in 2011, which i thought would be good if we could do an analysis of all Trinations teams and see where we end up. we’ll start with what they’ve gone with, and then having to make our own way with the Bok and Aussie teams respectively following a similar format as below:

http://www.nzrugbyworld.co.nz/Article.aspx?id=423
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Many had called this a dead rubber and a battle for the wooden spoon but weren’t we treated to a good game of rugby, especially for New Zealand supporters. For those who thought that the All Blacks would roll over and play dead, they were pleasantly surprised.

For me, I could see a difference in the All Black team straight from the Haka. It had a bit more intensity on Saturday and I believe the main reason for that is because Hosea Gear was leading it. He seems to have more passion when leading the Haka than Richie McCaw.

Looking back at the game, one now just has to wonder what a difference Cory Jane would have made to the All Blacks team against the Springboks. Jane looks superb under the high ball and that was largely seen in the first try the All Blacks scored when Jane made young James O’Connor really look like a school boy playing test rugby. Jane would have been able to handle the Springboks kicking game much better than Joey and Sivivatu. But I guess that is a lesson learnt now by the All Blacks…Jane has to play against the Boks.

I have been a huge fan of James O’Connor ever since I saw him play at the end of last year. He is not a bad player at all and will certainly have a bright future ahead of him BUT he should not be afraid of the All Blacks. Every game he has played against the All Blacks he has had a shocker. I am sure it is just a physcological thing with him but he has to get over it now!

For the first time in a while, the All Blacks lineout worked on Saturday and I like the look of Donnelly at lock. He was solid in the lineouts and held his own at scrum time. I just wonder what kind of a future he has for the All Blacks considering that there are the likes of Ali Williams, Anthony Boric and Bryn Evans who still have to return from injury and not forgetting Isaac Ross who has played for most of the Tri-Nations this year.

Looking at a key change for the All Blacks, the introduction of Isaia Toeava in the number 13 jumper was key for the All Blacks. Toeava probably had his best game ever in an All Black jursey even if he got a yellow card. If Toeava can display form like that week in and week out in an All Black jersey, New Zealand may have found a long term solution to number 13. But most of us know that Toeava delivers at Super 14 level but seems to choke at Test level.

For the Wallabies, they really need to get sorted out. They can not afford another Tri-Nations like this next year where they only win one game. People say the Wallabies are young and rebuilding so they will chalk this Tri-Nations down as being their teething season so we should expect to see them deliver next year..only time will tell if they will be able to deliver.

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Messeurs Henry, Smith and Hansen delayed the announcement of the team to face the Aussies in the last of the Tri-nations matches, which, in all essence is a dead-rubber and only competing for wooden spoon, which I guess, if you’re not a Bok is a big thing. But have they made the decisions in keeping Rockoko, Hore, Thorne and to an extent, Nonu? are the replacements in the form of Donnelly, Thomson, Toeava and Jane the correct ones?

If your lineouts are going pear shaped, do you fire the lock calling them or the hooker who can’t find his jumpers? personally, i think Hore should’ve got the boot, ROss has played all the ABs matches this year and i rate him above Thorne.

Joe must have a photo of the 3 ‘wise’ men with a sheep or something, how is he still being selected above the likes of masanga, david smith, hosea gear and co?

Nonu is lucky to have survived the axe from what i’ve heard about his display last weekend. his hands are not consistent and he doesn’t offer that much around the park outside of a wrecking ball, which again lacks consistency.

is this the right team? should this be a trial match for those fringe or new players? personally, i dont think the changes will change the mental strength that is lacking in this team, the determination and fierceness that we’ve become accustomed to over the last 2 decades or so. let me know your thoughts/comments!

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After a long debate about where/if Argentina should join one of the top 2 competitions in the world outside of the RWC, they have been invited to participate in a proposed 4 nations tournament along with the current SANZAR teams, SA, NZ and Aus from 2012, the year after the RWC in NZ.

There are conditions set for the Pumas though, and the main one being that their players are to play in the super rugby tournament before the start of the 4 nations. While this isn’t a bad idea, it will flood the SANZAR teams with foreign players, not too disimilar to the English, French and Italian teams at the moment. Something that SANZAR teams seem to pride themselves against such invasion of foreign players.

Given that most of the Puma players already play in the Northern Hemisphere, is it such a good idea to completely change that and get them to all pack up and move south bound and play for SANZAR teams? Would it not be better to make a 2-tiered 7 Nations tournament in the North, and rather introduce Fiji/Tonga/mixed islands team to join the SANZAR teams in a 4 nations tournament? I agree that rugby should be opened up to all teams, not just the Pumas, what are your thoughts/comments on this potential addition to world rugby?

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Well, well, well, well……..what can we say about this great Bok Side? Have they silenced their critics or have they silenced their critics? The display on Saturday was nothing short of sublime.

The game started off with the ref calling 2 penalties against the Boks that are still baffling me. Never in my short rugby career have I seen a ref calling for obstruction against a player who is supporting a jumper on a kick off. But on Saturday the All Blacks had this penalty given to them within the first 15 seconds. Later on in the 15^th minute, the very first scrum of the game, John Smit slipped upon making the hit and instead of resetting the scrum, the ref decided to award the All Blacks a second penalty. That’s already 6 points that were erroneously awarded to the All Blacks.

However, at this point in time I would like to commend the Boks for a few areas where they dominated and made sure they would do just enough to win the game. The selection of Frans Steyn proved to be monumental as the youngster slotted a 60m kick and two 50m kicks respectively for infringements made by the All Blacks at the ruck. In the preview of this game I had warned that the All Blacks might be caught out in trying to get away with what the Aus got away with a week earlier and it proved just how much a ref’s interpretation can affect a game.

The Bok scrum was much better and as I had intimated, Tony Woodcock is not the same as Benn Robinson. John Smit annihilated the veteran and late in the second half, a boks killed the All Black scrum under their own posts. The breakdown was dominated by the boks as Heinrich and Schalk proved just how deadly a combination they could become if given the time. My man of the match though was Fourie Du Preez who yet again, showed just how much a class player he is. His sniping runs, box kicks and efficient passing made all the world of difference, capped off with yet another try for the world’s best scrum half. The bok lineout caused problems as usual and Brad Thorne and Isaac Ross had no answers for Big Vic who stole quite a few of the Black lineouts at crucial times. Steven Donald was exposed in the middle as Jean De Villiers and Jacque Fourie ran wild all night long. I must say that when Isaia Toeava came on, his presence was immediately felt and I do not understand why Henry did not start with Toeava. The game had an exciting end to it as the All Blacks came back in the last 20minutes. The boks were exposed for their inability to play for 80min and that is something Peter De Villiers will need to address.

My preview was criticised by a few of our regulars on this site and one particular All Black supporter had this to say about my post:

Ø “Du Preez is the best in the world but Cowen is no slouch thus Im not concerned with the matchup”,

Ø “I also disagree that the W have a better scrum than ABs. If I remember correctly, the W scrum struggled a lot against us. I believe we can give smit and beast problems. Woodcock is afterall one of the best looseheads in the world”

I did not respond to these statements simply because I knew that the boks would do the talking for me. Firstly, Du Preez was head and shoulders better than Cowen and Du Preez single handedly scored the first try. Secondly, The All Blacks showed that they have the worst scrum out of the 3 Tri Nations teams by a mile so I rest my case there.

Finally, just a few moments in the game that I really enjoyed, Beast reeling down Kieren Read from behind and tackled him while John Smit revenged for Brad Thorne’s silly illegal tackle on him last year by putting in the tackle of the tournament on the so called “big Brad” and forcing him to spill the ball in the process.

To all the Springbok supporters, congratulations for the team’s fine performance and on their Tri Nations Victory. To all the All Black supporters, I hope you have learnt not to speak too soon and allow your disillusioned thoughts to cloud the facts. The All Blacks have been beaten 3-0 by the boks this year and they are not in the same class.

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The teams have been announced and here they are :-

Springboks – 15 Frans Steyn, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Schalk Burger, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Adi Jacobs, 22 Ruan Pienaar.

Frans Steyn has obviously been brought back into the fold to counter the Carter/Donald threat at the back. The rest of the team picks itself and credit must go to the Bok coaching team for their consistency so far. I am concerned about Spies as I have heard that he is not 100% fit. I would have liked to see Kankowski brought onto the bench to counter the possibility of a recurring injury ruling out the Bulls number 8 early in the game.

I believe the bok scrum will be much better as they would have worked on their weaknesses. Another point to consider would be that the Australian forwards bettered the New Zealanders and the Aus scrum has been the most consistent in the competition so far.

The bok side has no excuses as they have the better settled combinations and should be expected to put up a much better fight away from home, compared to their weak performance in Brisbane last week.

New Zealand - 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Ma’a Nonu, 12 Stephen Donald, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Subs: 16 Aled de Malmanche, 17 John Afoa, 18 Adam Thomson, 19 Rodney So’oialo, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Isaia Toeava 22 Cory Jane.

With the All Blacks coming off a 3 week layoff and also under pressure to deliver against a firing bok side, I expect nothing less than fireworks from the men in black. Looking at the team selected by Graham Henry, positions 1-11 are very much as expected and Henry must be commended for maintaining consistency, even with players that have mis-fired during the tournament like Kaino and Cowan, he has stuck to his guns and shown faith in his players.

At number 12 however, is where I believe Henry has taken a big gamble. Steven Donald is not a bad player at all and against any other team; I would not be as surprised to see him wearing the 12 jumper. However, when facing the world’s best inside centre in the form of Jean de Villiers, Donald might just be exposed. Furthermore, the All Black centre pairing has not played together before and they come up against De Villiers and Fourie who have been improving since being reunited just over a month ago. It is also about time that Rokocoko and Muliaina step up to the plate and it will be interesting to see how they fare. However, with ball in hand, Donald gives the All Blacks an extra kicking option and this should provide Frans Steyn with his sternest test yet at full back. The All Blacks will not have too much pressure on them in this regard and having both Donald and Carter on the field at the same time might just be a preview of Henry’s intended tactics to kick for territory and force the boks into making mistakes. It also provides the All Blacks options because with Carter being mainly a left footed kicker, it gives the All Blacks the left-right axis when kicking for territory.

Watch out for New Zealand’s counter rucking as I am sure Henry would have learnt from the Aussies that there are opportunities around the rucks and mauls when facing the boks. I am not sure though if the ref will allow as much freedom as Bryce Lawrence allowed in Brisbane because if not, then the All Blacks might just find themselves giving away a few penalties.

This game will be extremely physical in the tight five and expect the boks to bring their A game as they look to seal their Tri Nations victory. For key match ups, look at positions 9, 12 and 13 where I believe the bok superiority will be enough to edge this one. I expect Daniel Carter to be as his usual best and I would not be surprised if either Bakkies or Juan is assigned to put in a few late hits on the Maestro just to rattle him a bit.

This should be a tough and exciting encounter given the pre-match banter both in the respective teams’ camps and on this site. Here’s to yet another cracking rugby match that will lead to some interesting debate come Monday morning.  Enjoy it.

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The Wallabies ended the Springboks’ winning run in the Tri-nations with a well deserved 21 - 6 victory in Brisbane over the World Champions. A try each by Ashley Cooper and O’Connor proved sufficient to separate the two sides. But what an entertaining game! Despite only two tries being scored in the match both teams looked very keen to get over the opposition white wash! On no less than three occasions the Wallabies were denied a try by some last ditch defending and Brussow was denied a try due to duPreez uncharacteristically passing the ball forward to the Bok fetcher.

But was this a case of the Wallabies playing well or the Boks playing badly? I think John Smit said it best in the post match interview when he said that excuses are for losers. The Boks just met up with a team that out played them on the day.

What was once Australia’s Achilles heel actually proved to be a strong point as the Boks failed to match up to the Wallabies at scrum time. Yes, it was an improvement from last week from a Bok perspective but all in all the Wallaby front row proved too strong for the Boks, which must be a worrying aspect for PdV. The Wallabies were also able to match the Boks at the lineouts and very importantly the Australians were also very physical and competitive at the break-down; the presence of “Bam Bam” Pocock having an impact in this department of the game. These three facets, the scrum, line out and breakdown all combined to give Australia the platform that they needed to unleash their dangerous backline; and with Berrick Barnes back at inside centre all these things combined to give Australia the upper hand on the day. Giteau also benefited immensely from the snappier service he received from Will Genia who seems set to retain that number 9 jumper while Burgess may now end up the Whitaker of his generation.

What may have hurt the Boks, especially in the second half, was the absence of Bryan Habana on the wing who pulled out in the late stages of the first half with what looked like a hamstring strain. Combined with the absence of Pietersen on the right wing and the booming boot of Frans Steyn at the back, this meant the Boks were fielding a completely different back three than they have been fielding for the majority of the season. This seemed to seriously hamper the effectiveness of the Bok kick and chase game. It also helped that the Wallabies played it smart by retaining huge chunks of possession and playing in the Bok half.

With a trip to Hamilton next week PdV must be concerned by the comprehensive nature in which his side was beaten on Saturday. By contrast Robbie Deans and Graham Henry must at last have something to smile about as the chinks in the Bok armory have been exposed and a team that looked almost invincible seven days ago all of a sudden looks decidedly ordinary.

My man of the match award goes to Berrick Barnes, the man looks very accomplished and complete for a player so young.

So off to Hamilton on Saturday with the Boks still trying to get the two points they need to win the Tri-nations. If the Boks put in another performance like the one they gave in Brisbane I have no doubts that the Carter inspired All Blacks are going to defeat the Boks.

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I came across an interesting article on the internet today. A journalist was of the opinion that the current Bok team was the best Bok team ever (I assume he means post-apartheid). He then went on to compare it to the 1999 Bok team that won 17 Tests in a row (yes, the same team that was dumped out of the RWC’99 by an amazing Wallaby team) and concluded that the current team shaded it in his eyes because the current Boks have a better lock combination, have the best Bok scrummy ever, have a reliable goal-kicker and have a better backline.

I have always thought the 95 Bok team was a very good side and I was surprised that the journo didn’t mention it. Nonetheless the teams of 1999 and 2009 are below.

What are your thoughts? Is this team the best Bok side since 1994?

Class of 1999: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 13 Robbie Fleck, 12 Pieter Muller, 11 Pieter Rossouw, 10 Henry Honiball, 9 Joost van der Westhuizen, 8 Gary Teichmann (c), 7 Andre Venter/Bobby Skinstad, 6 Rassie Erasmus, 5 Mark Andrews, 4 Kraynauw Otto, 3 Cobus Visagie, 2 James Dalton, 1 Adrian Garvey.

Class of 2009: 15 Frans Steyn, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn/Ruan Pienaar, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.

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